Hub oil seals, how bad...

Dave, can you take a picture of any problems and post 'em back here?

I may pluck up the courage to tackle mine (after I've done the p gasket)

you want one long 14mm bihex ring spanner and a shorter ratchette spanner for ball bolts,undo all half way before undoing completely as spanner jams against ball

Hmm, not got any ratchet spanners, sounds like it'll be a slow fiddly job then.

If i remember, i'll take some photos.

Come to think of it, not got any axle stands yet either! Trip to the spares shop today i think

I've just stripped both sides of mine today to replace the seals and found a swivel bearing collapsed so pleased I did .It wasn't causing any problems just a bit of play.
The seals aren't too bad a job the only problem I had was the securing bolts holding the swivel ball to the axle were loctited so I had to get a bit heat onto them as they were very tight. Don't see the point in not taking every thing to bits to do the job right ,never cut an oil seal it defeats the point of replacing it
I've also got a snapped spring so need to order a pair and might as well replace the shocks while it's that far down ,discs and pad are also worn out so quite a major front end repair .mot due in 2 weeks
front brake pipes as well

Got a bit of a job on there then.

Brakes are ok, i'll check the joints as i strip, im only going for the swivel seals this time round but my question was answered and i'll not be cutting them to to fit them.

Loctited bolts sounds like the first headache of the day then, only got a small plumbers torch so i dont think that'll be much good if i get stuck.

Bugger, balls and feck it.....

two and a half hours of fecking about, one broken spanner, three scraped knuckles - result = packed up, gave up and went in for a cup of coffee.

I cant shift any of the bolts on the ball-axle flange, gave spanner some help with foot and spanner broke

Luckily i did not bother undoing anything else, just went straight for those bolts first but unless there is such a thing as a two-foot long 14mm bi-hex spanner, there aint no way i'm getting them off.

It'll probably be garage job when i get some spare cash

Bugger it.

snap on do long ones in various lengths ,you can see why some not all tools need to be quality if you where doing that daily, sometimes it easier to flog spanner with hammer to get them started

I'm sorry to hear that, Dave

It really is a bugger when, despite your best efforts, everything conspires against you.

I was slogging the second spanner but they tend to be too springy to do any good, usually end up springing up and whacking you in the gob

I guess a garage will give them a flash of oxy/ac to soften up the loctite and they will just pop off easy. I didn't want to keep going at it incase i rounded the heads making things even worse.

I just dont like being beaten by a stupid bolt (or 12).

****ed me off for the day too, i was looking forward to a day of tinkering.

Oh and i see they are torqued to 73Nm, is there such a thing as a torque spanner???

Will an impact gun get in there? If so I have a small compressor and tools I can bring down to try and help.

Also have a 2 foot long breaker bar and a set of bi hex sockets that should do the job.

Afraid not, you couldnt even get a 1/4" drive socket ratchet in there! Its just too close to the ball.

Of course, if they had put the blots in the other way round with the threads in the ball not the axle, it would be a piece of ****.

Thats too easy i suppose.

you need quality 14mm spanner,once cracked they do go ,its often better to put spanner on wrong way round

How about using a 1/4inch drive and a universal joint on it or a good af spanner and a pipe to extend it?

1/4 drive wouldnt take it even snap on set 14mm is slightly smaller than 9/16

If you can find them, because they are like rocking horse poo. Try an impact spanner (slogging spanners) the are hard as fook to brake if you are near Oxford I would lend you mine

its the locktite which makes them so tight ,even if you can get a bit of heat from a small blow lamp it would probably do the trick
When I did mine my first thoughts were they were seized in but after a little warm up they came out no bother
The only thing you can get in is a ring spanner no room for anything else so not much leverage avalible

Thanks all, i'm working myself upto it, maybe this weekend i'll have another bash.

I might try welding some steel bar to the side of a 14mm socket, make a long tool maybe?

I do have a plumbers blowtorch, trouble with small heat is that you cant get it hot fast enough, this makes the whole lump warm up risking damaging the oil seals inside as well and i dont have those ones. A flash of oxy on the bolt would likely expand it enough to release the tension on it.

Still, its an idea.

Right im going in again this weekend, bastards not getting me beat.

I found the thickest ring spanner i had, cut the open end off so i can slip a length of pipe over it for more leverage. I'll also use the blowlamp.

See what happens, if i remember i'll take some photos.

Good luck mate. Hope it gets done.